Odoardo Beccari
Encyclopedia
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
perhaps best known for discovering the titan arum
Titan arum
The titan arum or Amorphophallus titanum is a flowering plant with the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world...
, the plant with the largest unbranched inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
in the world, in Sumatra
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
in 1878. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation Becc. when citing
Author citation (botany)
In botanical nomenclature, author citation refers to citing the person who validly published a botanical name, i.e. who first published the name while fulfilling the formal requirements as specified by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature...
a botanical name
Botanical name
A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar and/or Group epithets must conform to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants...
.
Life
An orphanOrphan
An orphan is a child permanently bereaved of or abandoned by his or her parents. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents is called an orphan...
from Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Beccari studied at a school in Lucca
Lucca
Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...
and the universities in Pisa
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
and Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
. After graduating, he spent a few months at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, usually referred to as Kew Gardens, is 121 hectares of gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond and Kew in southwest London, England. "The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew" and the brand name "Kew" are also used as umbrella terms for the institution that runs...
, where he met Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, William Hooker
William Jackson Hooker
Sir William Jackson Hooker, FRS was an English systematic botanist and organiser. He held the post of Regius Professor of Botany at Glasgow University, and was the first Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He enjoyed the friendship and support of Sir Joseph Banks for his exploring,...
and Joseph Hooker
Joseph Dalton Hooker
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker OM, GCSI, CB, MD, FRS was one of the greatest British botanists and explorers of the 19th century. Hooker was a founder of geographical botany, and Charles Darwin's closest friend...
, and James Brooke
James Brooke
James, Rajah of Sarawak, KCB was the first White Rajah of Sarawak. His father, Thomas Brooke, was an English Judge Court of Appeal at Bareilly, British India; his mother, Anna Maria, born in Hertfordshire, was the illegitimate daughter of Scottish peer Colonel William Stuart, 9th Lord Blantyre,...
, the first Rajah of Sarawak
Sarawak
Sarawak is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Known as Bumi Kenyalang , Sarawak is situated on the north-west of the island. It is the largest state in Malaysia followed by Sabah, the second largest state located to the North- East.The administrative capital is Kuching, which...
. The latter connection lead to him spending 3 years from 1865 to 1868 undertaking research in Sarawak, Brunei
Brunei
Brunei , officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace , is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia...
and other islands off present-day Malaysia and New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
. He discovered many new species of palms
Arecaceae
Arecaceae or Palmae , are a family of flowering plants, the only family in the monocot order Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known genera with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate climates...
.
After an expedition to Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, he made a second trip to New Guinea, this time with ornithologist Luigi Maria d'Albertis in 1872. Here they collected zoological
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
specimens, especially birds of paradise
Bird of paradise
The birds-of-paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. The majority of species in this family are found on the island of New Guinea and its satellites, with a few species occurring in the Moluccas and eastern Australia. The family has forty species in 14 genera...
and ethnographic materials.
Beccari founded the Nuovo Giornale Botanico Italiano (New Italian Botanic Journal) in 1869, and also published his results in Bolletino della Società geografica Italiana. He found the Corpse Plant in 1878, located in Sumatra. In the same year, on his return to Florence, he became Director of the Botanic Garden of Florence
Orto Botanico di Firenze
The Orto Botanico di Firenze , also known as the Giardino dei Semplici, the "Garden of simples", is a botanical garden maintained by the University of Florence. It is located at Via Micheli, 3, Florence, Italy, and open weekday mornings...
as successor to Filippo Parlatore
Filippo Parlatore
Filippo Parlatore was an Italian botanist.Italian botanist, b. at Palermo, 8 Aug., 1816; d. at Florence, 9 Sept., 1877, a devout and faithful Catholic. He studied medicine at Palermo, but practiced only for a short time, his chief activity being during the cholera epidemic of 1837...
but resigned in the following year, 1879, after conflicts with the administration. In 1882 he married and had 4 sons.
Beccari's botanical collection now forms part of the Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze
Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze
The Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze is a natural history museum in 6 major collections, located in Florence, Italy. It is part of the University of Florence...
.
The botanical journal Beccariana from Herbarium Manokwariense, Universitas Negeri Papua (Unipa), Papua, Indonesia, is named after Beccari, see external links below
Selected works
- Malesia, raccolta d'osservazioni lese e papuano (three volumes, 1877–1889).
- Nelle Foreste di Borneo. Viaggi e ricerche di un naturalista (S. Landi, Florence, 1902).
- Asiatic Palms (1908).
- Palme del Madagascar descritte ed illustrate (1912).
- Nova Guinea, Selebes e Molucche. Diari di viaggio ordinati dal figlio Prof. Dott. Nello Beccari (La Voce, Florence, 1924).
Species named after Odoardo Beccari
Plants:- Dryobalanops beccariiDryobalanops beccariiDryobalanops beccarii, or Kapur Keladan, is a species of plant in the Dipterocarpaceae family. The species is named after Odoardo Beccari, 1843-1920, an Italian explorer and botanist. It is found in Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo. It is a large emergent tree, up to 65 m tall, found in mixed...
or Kapur Keladan, tree in the Dipterocarpaceae family - Dacrydium beccariiDacrydium beccariiDacrydium beccarii is a species of conifer in the Podocarpaceae family.It is found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Solomon Islands.-References:* Conifer Specialist Group 1998. . Downloaded on 10 July 2007....
, a conifer in the Podocarpaceae family - Haplolobus beccariiHaplolobus beccariiHaplolobus beccarii is a species of plant in the Burseraceae family. It is endemic to Malaysia.-Source:* World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1998. . Downloaded on 21 August 2007....
, a plant in the Burseraceae family - Bulbophyllum beccariiBulbophyllum beccariiBulbophyllum beccarii is by far the largest species in the genus Bulbophyllum and one of the largest in the orchid family.The thick rhizome, reportedly up to 20 cm in diameter snakes its way around tree trunks climbing up into the light...
, an orchid
Animals:
- Acanthopelma beccariiAcanthopelma beccariiAcanthopelma beccarii is a species of spider belonging to the family Theraphosidae . It is endemic to Guyana in northern South America.While there are specimens held in captivity, it is not a very popular species in this regard....
, a tarantula - Conraua beccariiConraua beccariiConraua beccarii is a species of frog in the Ranidae family.It is found in Eritrea and Ethiopia.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montanes, subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland, subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland, rivers, and freshwater marshes.It is...
, frog in the Ranidae family - Crocidura beccarii, a shrew
- Varanus beccarii, a monitor lizard